The Rowan University softball team returned home from their spring break training in the wake of the coronavirus. - Multimedia Editor/Miguel Martinez.

It’s been a complete shift of tides for the Rowan softball team this week. After winning 10 of their previous 11, the Profs dropped three of four to Ramapo College and The College of New Jersey (TCNJ).

During the 10-1 stretch, the Brown and Gold outscored opponents 73-18 and recorded six shutouts.

This week, every game was decided by one run.

In the first doubleheader series against Ramapo, Rowan got out to a 1-0 lead thanks to Jesse DeDomenico’s solo home run in the third. The Roadrunners then scored the game’s next two runs in the sixth due to two Prof errors.

In game two, DeDomenico’s two-run single to left in the fifth gave the Brown and Gold a 3-0 lead. But again, sloppy play would haunt Rowan. An error in the fifth and sixth innings gave Ramapo a 5-3 lead. DeDomenico hit another solo shot in the final frame, but it wasn’t enough to mount a comeback.

“We just need to be confident,” DeDomenico said of the team’s recent stretch of games. “If we show that confidence that we have, that can be us winning these games. I think if we just go in there and play the Rowan softball we know how to play and stay within ourselves, we’ll be successful like we should be.”

The team did turn things around in the first game against the Lions, as DeDomenico’s two-run double in the top of the seventh evened the score at four. Senior Cassandra Gerard would bring DeDomenico home for the difference-maker on a sacrifice bunt, leading Rowan to a 5-4 win. Rowan was then a victim of their own game, as TCNJ’s two-run home run in the fifth lifted them over the Profs, 4-3.

The pitching wasn’t the problem for Rowan, giving up a total of 17 hits in four games. It was more so the errors, giving up three runs on four total errors.

Rowan will have the opportunity to get back on track against Arcadia University, who is 20-8 on the season including 2-2 against teams in the NJAC.

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